Chronological Order
by Tabbi-Katt
Summary: Technically speaking, it all lasted only three days but that short journey forever changed Tatl's life. **1sentence**


_A/N: More fun with the old livejournal one sentence challenge. Focus on Tatl, because she's still one of my favourite partners in the series, and starting a little after the initial three days._

* * *

Chronological Order

* * *

 **(ring)**  
Before this whole mess of an adventure started she'd thought of Time as a straight forward line that ran from 'start' to 'end', not a circle that went round and round and never ever seemed to stop.

 **(hero)**  
She looked over his sword and shield, finely crafted equipment that wore scratches and nicks from use, and said, "Wow, you're the real deal, aren't you?"

 **(memory)**  
The weirdest part, she thought to herself (and ONLY to herself because the kid wasn't privy to this information yet), was how she had two images of Skull Kid in her head—from back then to right now—but had a tough time reminding herself they were still the same person.

 **(box)**  
It had just started as a treasure hunt, she would eventually admit to him and to herself, just a fun little game to see how much they could find from all sorts of different people, until that thing under the mask started to take it too far.

 **(run)**  
Tatl at least remembered the secret code, explaining "I'd rather have the moon fall on us than watch you play tag again, for technically the second AND first time in case you needed reminding on how bizarre this situation is."

 **(hurricane)  
** They both watched as the lost fairy joined its brethren and soon the whole flock was swirling and twisting like a storm cloud, the mass of fairies forming the shape of one…

 **(wings)**  
She fluttered ahead out of the cave and added, "Some people believe each fairy is crafted by one of the Great Fairies, but I don't buy it, I don't think someone like her could make someone like me."

 **(cold)**  
Tatl pulled the hem of his cap a little tighter around her to protect from the chill and mused out loud, "You'd think I'd be used to these nights by now."

 **(red)**  
Fireworks burst and crackled in the crimson sky, evanescent light casting yellow and blue glows over the crater-pocked face that loomed over them all.

 **(drink)**  
"Tonight's usually the best night of the whole year, especially when—" she dropped onto his shoulder as he raised the ocarina to his lips— "when the adults have been partying a little too hard, heh heh, nothing more fun than the three of us messing with a drunk."

 **(midnight)**  
The clock bells echoed around her once, twice... and then a sixth time as a cucco's guttural cry chimed in to celebrate the new dawn.

 **(temptation)**  
"Weeelll, since we already know how to get into the inn for free, and anything we do will eventually be reset, I was thinking we just walk on in and 'borrow' some money to help— okay, _okay_ , it was just an idea, stop looking at me like that!"

 **(view)**  
She gestured to the wide open space preceding the visual scope of Snowhead's peaks and announced "Welcome to Termina Field!"

 **(music)**  
She and her brother had always liked the Deku tribe's overzealous attempts at music, although, in her opinion, proudly trumpeting that the boiling water was ready seemed to be overdoing it.

 **(silk)**  
The web had seemed to come out of nowhere, and if she'd been alone Tatl would be calling herself 'Skulltula chow' soon.

 **(cover)**  
Masks, masks, masks everywhere she looked— her old friend, her new companion, the beast they slayed in the temple's antechamber, even the giant hid itself behind a wall of mist and barely comprehensible words.

 **(promise)**  
He thought the bond shared between monkey and princess was admirable; she thought it was plain stupid because, c'mon and think rationally here, no one could ever be THAT worth it, right?

 **(dream)**  
One time— just the _one time_ — she made the comment "Do you know you squirm and mumble in your sleep a lot?" and now it took forever to convince him to get some rest.

 **(candle)**  
No one else could hear the seahorse that glowed like a lantern so it was only Tatl who could listen to— and presently repeat— his pleading words of a lost home and love.

 **(talent)**  
His ability to change form at will didn't bother her as such, but every once in awhile he'd do something—be it reading a language he'd never been taught, be it comfortably moving in a body that was not his own, be it knowing his way around an area he'd never seen before—that made her question who was really in control.

 **(silence)**  
He tried his best to not make the words sound insulting, but his surprise over her concern for Lulu's condition had Tatl pointedly ignore him for quite some time.

 **(journey)**  
She remarked at the start of yet another loop how strange their quest felt sometimes; "We've come a long way since that morning in the woods but we always end up back at that exact same morning."

 **(fire)**  
Hovering close to the wasp's nest, and mouthing quietly so the pirates below wouldn't hear, she counted down: _...3...2...1...and...!_

 **(strength)**  
Tatl crowed and applauded as the metal pieces of Goht clattered to the ground, and said "You're way too good at this, sure you weren't a warrior in a past life or something?"

 **(mask)**  
He shrugged the comment off cheerfully enough, but he couldn't hide the flicker behind his eyes that had Tatl wonder who exactly this boy she called a friend was.

 **(ice)**  
The mountain melted back into its proper springtime vista and the warming air was filled with everyone cheering and congratulating their supposed fallen hero; neither she or the true hero had the heart to tell them the truth.

 **(fall)**  
The cheers became echoes and then nothing at all as the two slipped back down the stream of days, landing back to the exact same dawn they always did.

 **(forgotten)**  
She had to wonder if the constant erasures of time started to get to him, always seeing all their accomplishments amount to nothing.

 **(dance)**  
"No," he said, because he could still remember those moments of helping people, those moments full of joy and contagious celebration, those moments still worth fighting for, and she had to admire that kind of ridiculous optimism.

 **(body)**  
The eastern region had always given her the creeps; seriously, no place should be populated mostly by non-living souls.

 **(sacred)**  
As yet another dead soldier was felled, Tatl mentioned, "Y'know, I was always told graveyards and crypts were supposed to be holy ground to protect them from the damned, think we could have some religious guy fired for doing such a bad job?"

 **(farewells)**  
She hadn't thought the boy made much of an affect on her until the moment Keeta received his final salute and, as the captain crumbled to dust, a wave of pity struck her that she knew the old her wouldn't have felt.

 **(world)**  
Despite her size, Tatl had never thought herself small, but traversing up Stone Tower and seeing all of Termina curved out beneath them made her feel insignificant for the first time in her whole life.

 **(formal)**  
 _Boy,_ she thought, _we're lucky even dead kings have honor, otherwise the canyon would be saying hello to two new permanent residents._

 **(fever)**  
The harsh eastern sun burned the both of them and they jokingly argued bragging rights over whose skin felt hottest to the touch.

 **(laugh)**  
She said it looked like the world was about to be saved by two cooked lobsters, which drew an unattractive snort of laughter, one of the few happy, _normal_ , sounds she ever heard from him.

 **(lies)**  
She didn't truly believe his words that everything would be fine in the end but she told him she did, if only because she _wanted_ to believe.

 **(forever)**  
"Hey, uh... Just letting you know that, no matter what happens, I'll always remember this, so... good luck to the both of us."

 **(overwhelmed)  
** She'd thought hunting for and freeing the giants would be the worst she ever had to deal with, but it paled horribly in comparison to the cold terror gripping her as the planet-destroying hunk of rock stopped mere meters from the clock tower surface.

 **(whisper)**  
Tatl imagined evil should have a standard deep, booming voice that trembled the air... this made the mask's quiet, patient assurance all the more monstrous.

 **(wait)**  
They didn't mean to to be silent, but there was a lengthy shared pause before Tatl finally found her voice to ask, "You see this too, right?"

 **(talk)**  
When he spoke to the masked children Tatl collectively referred to each one as 'a bunch of creepy freaks' and the thought they might not even be real didn't help matters.

 **(search)**  
She considered it funny, in a wholly outlandish sort of way: they'd once played hide-and-seek for the chance to reach the moon, and here they were again playing a children's game but now for the sake of leaving the moon's dream world.

 **(hope)  
** Perseverance had to be contagious, because he certainly had more than enough to go around and she doubted she would have gotten this far without it.

 **(eclipse)  
** _This is it,_ she thought distantly as that horrid thing twisted into another form, refusing to die, _this is how the world ends._

 **(gravity)  
** Maybe that was why, in a situation where they had nothing to lose, she found herself screaming louder than she ever had in her life, screaming that they'd made it this far already and she wasn't about to give up on him.

 **(highway)**  
And just like that it was all over and she watched him take the path back to those woods where they first met with an odd sense in her mind that anything barely happened yet.

 **(unknown)**  
She didn't tell her brother everything, both because even gullible Tael probably wouldn't believe half of it and no way was she about to admit being heartbroken over some dumb kid she barely knew.

 **(lock)**  
Everything had returned to normal—actually, even better than normal since her friend was back—and for that stability she was grateful, although still wished she could express that gratitude face-to-face.

 **(breathe)**  
For now she inhaled a big huff of fresh Clocktown air and flew off to join the celebrations of a brand new day.


End file.
